Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-24
CORPORATIONS.


CORPORATIONS.
Our contributor, Jefferson, "in yester-
days GAZETTE expresses the feelings of @
great many il regard to the power oil
/ corporations. That danger is to be ap-
r pretended from corporate power and cor
f porate greed has long been the subject OF
vigorous defamation in the legislative
halls and on the busting. Millions Of dol
lars are found aggregated in certain cor
, pOrstions that have been chartered by the
people for certain specific purposes and
these corporations have only one object
to attain, one end in view, and that is the
accommodating of money. To carry out
their designs they are not scrupulous :;
, only when it clearly rebounds to their
own interests are they precisians. Our
most prominent leaders have told us of
the danger of their unrestricted power
and warned US repeatedly OF the steady
encroachments being made by them, not
only upon individual liberty, but upon
the prerogative of the sovereign states.
Time and again we have heard
the question, "whither are we drifting2"
and the only answer comes is an impotent
aCquiescence ineXisting conditions There
should be change. If the corporations
of the country are becoming intolersble
and dangerous to the public welfare, the
question is not "whither are we driftingP'
but the more practical one, "What are we
going to do about it?" It is IN the power
of the people TO limit the powers of cor
porations whenever it is agreed that they
are exceeding proper bounds and becom-
ing inimical to the public prosperity. The
trouble seems to be that there is room
for a vast amount of argument on both
sides of this question. While there is no
doubt that some corporations exercise
despotic power, corrupt legislatures, and
bias in some instances Judicial de-
cisions, thu charge that all corporations
are alike guilty will not hold good when
subjected to impartial scrutiny. We need
not refer to the thousands of corporations
that annually rise, flourish for day and
fade out of exis tence. These may have
the desire, but they never have the power
to accomplish either good or evil. We
can Judge only from such corporations as
are conducting business which largely af-
fects the public, and of these,
many will be found not
only keeping within their legitimate
bounds, but an unprejudicedIinvesti
will show that they are public benefsctors
Neither the frothy vaporings of the agi-
tator nor the vague congratulations of the
Office seeker should be considered suffi-
cient evidence to convict corporations of
wrong doing. We should bestow censure,
when necessary, unsparingly, and praise,
when praise is due, literally. There are
corporations in existence whose power
may well be feared and whose actions
should be jealousy watched. There are
others which should not be condemned. |
a mere charter is not prima facie evidence
of wrong doing. Our public officers are
supposed to be sentlnels upon the watch
towers to guard the rights of the people |
and if they prove unfaithful to the trust
reposed in them il is the fault of the peg |
pie themselves. Corporations are neces-
sary. Individual effort and individual |
capital could never have accomplished |
what has been accomplished by consoli- |
dated capital. In Texas we see railroads |
piercing the prs1Ties in every direction |
and in their wake towns and cities spring |
up and well tiled farms and gardens are
found. Had railroad building been left to !
individual enterprise Texas to-day would |
be the Texas of thirty years ago. Ranches |
would be found where cities now are
built, and where the cotton and corn is |
growing the buffalo and elk would roam |
undisturbed. Railroads are civilizers. |
They are the pioneers of progress in q |
new country. They bring people back
into a country where they can produce
wealth and give them home market for |
the product Of their labor. Thousands
of miles Of railroad have been built in |
ACAoo "lLALn tuC pooG lSu JSdISJ yet ut |
would be wealthy man indeed who
could build and equip one hundred miles,
and 3 daring Spectator who would,
singly, invest so much money as is re-
CURED to build fifty miles. We must
expect abuses with these benefits. In
aggregated wealth there is power and
this power may be wrongly used. Under
our form Of government, however, the
corporation is the creature of the people
and can never become greater than its
creator. If depredations are committed
the people themselves are to blame.
With our Reagans, Cokes and Culbersons
as champions we need not fear evil
results. When we fear these We can
change them for representatives more